For many of us, making a substantial charitable gift during our lifetimes is simply not possible. We have important reasons: the demands of family, the concern that we have enough income for our senior years, the inheritance we wish to pass on to our loved ones.

And yet, we too want to leave our legacy, whether it be for the local library, the community center, our alma maters, the town that nurtured us, the issues we care about, and/or the challenges we know will still face Rhode Island after we are gone.

The good news is twofold: 

1. that the combined assets at our deaths – life insurance policies, stocks and bonds, house sale proceeds – may well take care of our families and still provide enough for a permanent charitable legacy; and 
2. that The Rhode Island Foundation can offer many options that you can take advantage of now without risking a single cent of personal security. In fact, some even make it possible for you to create a dependable income source during your lifetime.

 In all cases, the gift you leave at passing will create or contribute to the same kind of permanent endowments that have been established at the Foundation since 1916 (if you haven’t already, see Types of Endowments).

Speaking of 1916, by informing us of your plans – whether revocable or irrevocable -- to establish an endowment at the Foundation in the future, we welcomes you as a member of  our legacy  society: The 1916 Society of The Rhode Island Foundation. 

Dig deeper for different Ways You Can Give Later and Gifts that Give You Income.